New businesses launch in Escondido

Retail shops, eateries among downtown-area offerings

ESCONDIDO  More than a half-dozen entrepreneurs in and around downtown Escondido are helping to put a dent in the city’s commercial vacancies.

New businesses and restaurants featuring a range of specialties from baby clothing to barbecue to tea have opened in recent weeks or are poised to open before summer’s end.

Many of the owners said that launching a new business is a scary prospect, but they are confident about their endeavors.

“I’m just a firm believer that we’re never going to get out of this (economic) mess unless somebody takes a risk so I decided to be the one to take the risk,” said Karen Delgadillo, owner of baby boutique The Knitten Kitten.

“I’m a farmer trying to create customers for my fruit,” Bonsall avocado rancher Alex MacLachlan said of his new restaurant, which is expected to open the first week of August.

MacLachlan, a San Pasqual High School graduate who was raised in Old Escondido surrounded by avocado trees, said he used to ride his skateboard on Grand Avenue past the avocado-green building with an expansive back patio that houses his restaurant. “It doesn’t get much more local than me.”

MacLachlan and his wife created the menu, in which avocado is a prominent ingredient in every dish, including dessert.

Debra and Brad Davies have run American Custom Lifts since 1998, mostly out of their Lake Wohlford area home. When they decided to set up a traditional office space and demonstration shop for their automotive lift business, they thought the home of the weekly Cruisin’ Grand classic car show would be the perfect fit.

The owners of a custom automotive lift company are opening a retail store in downtown Escondido that will sell replica-vintage car memorabilia.

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The owners of a custom automotive lift company are opening a retail store in downtown Escondido that will sell replica-vintage car memorabilia.

Downtown business requirements call for a retail element to Grand Avenue businesses, so the Davieses are opening a store that will sell replica-vintage 1950s and 1960s garage-type items. Around Aug. 5, the target opening date for Grand Garage Gear, automobile aficionados will be able to browse for accessories such as a barbecue grill shaped like a car engine or a freezer designed as an old-fashioned Coca-Cola chest. Vintage clocks with automotive-related logos, old-fashioned pedal cars and tin automobile signs will be among the inventory.

The store will have a demonstration area for the custom car lifts, which are used by Mini Cooper, Mercedes, Ferrari and the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, Debra Davies said.

The Grand Tea Room, 145 W. Grand Ave.; thegrandtearoom.com.

When Louisa Magoon was laid off after 21 years in human resources, she found the prospect of looking for a new job daunting. So she turned her love of tea into her next career. Magoon took her husband, Bob, out of retirement to help launch The Grand Tea Room, which is expected to open the third week of August.

The Magoons, who live in Escondido, have been working on the tea room and gift shop since March, painting, remodeling, upgrading the kitchen and decorating with chandeliers and a mural.

Daughter Leola Floyd will be the chef, leading the preparation of soups, sandwiches and desserts to accompany the tea. Louisa Magoon said she is pleased with the results of the months of work that have given the tea room a “crisp, fresh and clean” look with a traditional tea room formality.

She has received nearly 70 emails through the tea room’s website from enthusiastic future customers. She is already taking reservations for large groups this fall.

Karen Delgadillo opened her baby clothing and gift boutique just off Grand Avenue after deciding the location was ideal for such a business. She noted the mothers walking with children to the library and grandmothers browsing the weekly farmers market, and the store’s proximity to Palomar Medical Center.

“Babies are not seasonal,” said Delgadillo, who had owned a baby boutique in Rancho Bernardo a decade ago and designs children’s toys and blankets.

Delgadillo spent about a month fixing up the small shop – which had been part of a jewelry store and, decades ago, a Texaco gas station – installing carpet, painting the walls bright yellow, and adding a wallpaper border featuring kittens and yarn.

Her store sells a signature, handmade line of blankets in addition to clothing and specialty toys for babies. “Old-fashioned things that grandma used to make – that’s the kind of look we’re going for.”

Mike’s BBQ, 1356 W. Valley Parkway; (760) 746-4444; mikesbbq.net.

When Steve Olson decided to open a restaurant in Escondido, he saw a need and wanted to fill it.

Steve Olson, a commercial firewood and charcoal dealer, hired more than 100 employees for his new barbecue restaurant and sports bar.

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Steve Olson, a commercial firewood and charcoal dealer, hired more than 100 employees for his new barbecue restaurant and sports bar.

“We have no barbecue place, we really don’t have a sports bar, so I thought Escondido needs something like this, and boy have they supported us” since opening in late June, said Olson, who lives in Escondido and named the restaurant for a nephew.

The 11,000-square-foot restaurant includes a sports bar that is separated by glass to cut down on noise in the main, family-friendly seating area. It also has a private party room and outdoor seating.

Olson, who’s been in the firewood and charcoal business for decades, said he spent about two years doing barbecue research. He estimated that he has invested about $1.5 million in the restaurant, and he expects the support he has seen so far to pay off. In return, Olson said he is supporting the community by sponsoring local teams and hiring about 125 people, mostly from Escondido.

The Rustic Sparrow, 128 E. Grand Ave.; (760) 745-1400; on Facebook.

Old Escondido residents Jacqueline Kahn and Heather Carpenter chose downtown to open their “eclectic marketplace” because they liked its small-town feel.

The Rustic Sparrow brings artists, designers and retailers under one roof by renting spaces to vendors and artists selling handmade or specialty merchandise like jewelry, handbags, scarves, clothing and home furnishings. The styles range from shabby chic to contemporary to antique. The store opened with 10 vendors, and four more have recently reserved space, including Mexican pottery and women’s clothing consignment vendors.

Kahn and Carpenter recently closed a consignment shop they had outgrown in the Bernardo Winery, and find they like the exposure that being on Grand Avenue gives them. They said they’ve been welcomed by other business owners and city officials. And, “it’s so nice to be close to home,” Carpenter said.

Richard and Maribel Moran live in Fallbrook and have run a Swirlz candy store on Main Street there for three years. They decided to add a location when they realized that about one-third of their customers were from Escondido.

Among the sweets found at new candy shop Swirlz are classic and hard-to-find candy bars.

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Among the sweets found at new candy shop Swirlz are classic and hard-to-find candy bars.

“We wanted an area that catered to the old-fashioned candy store,” Maribel Moran said. “We looked at the beach, San Marcos, Temecula. We were looking for this – an old-fashioned, rustic store. … The whole idea is to take someone back in time.”

The store is billed as a retro-candy shop, but also sells vintage-replica tin toys and lunchboxes, novelty gifts and magic tricks. Moran said a malt-shop area with gelato and a fudge bar will open at the back of the store in about six to eight weeks.

The Morans’ five children often accompany them to the Escondido store – where one can satisfy just about any sweet tooth with such treats as taffy, Jelly Belly beans and Clark bars – because there’s more to do in the area than in Fallbrook. Moran said that opening the new shop was easy thanks to the landlord, Deyan Pantich of Land Space Engineering. Pantich was just as enthusiastic: “We’re happy she chose us.”